We’ve finished the fifth month of the Unlocking the Past 2022 Reading Challenge: Around the World. This month we traveled to Europe, and my choice of story was Dusk’s Darkest Shore by Carolyn Miller. Once you read my review, don’t forget to comment to be entered for your chance to win a copy.

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Dusk’s Darkest Shores

by Carolyn Miller

It was such a joy to dive into a Carolyn Miller book. Someone initially compared it to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and while there might have been very loose parallels on occasion, this was its own beautiful story. Resplendent with a beautiful setting, a woman with a tender heart and special connection with God, and a blind hero, it was a unique read. I really appreciated the way the story dealt with God not answering prayers in the way we want, and leaving the reader with hope.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves regency stories, stories of spinster women finding love, spiritual threads that are strong but not preachy, and heroes who are not your typical hero.

(Forgive the especially short review. I’m editing and really tired. 😉 )


Genre: Historical Romance, Regency

Plot Overview:

How can a meek wallflower help a returning war hero whose dreams are plunged into darkness?

Mary Bloomfield has no illusions. Her chances for matrimony have long since passed her by. Still, her circumstances are pleasant enough, especially now that she has found purpose in assisting her father with his medical practice in England’s beautiful Lake District. Even without love, it’s a peaceful life.

That is until Adam Edgerton returns to the sleepy district. This decorated war hero did not arrive home to acclaim and rest, but to a new battle against the repercussions of an insidious disease. Mary’s caring nature cannot stand to see someone suffer–but how can she help this man see any brightness in his future when he’s plunged into melancholic darkness, his dreams laid waste by his condition?

Adam wants no charity, but he’s also no coward. If this gentle woman can work hard, how can he do less? Together they struggle to find a way forward for him. Frustration and antipathy slowly develop into friendship and esteem. Then a summer storm atop a mountain peak leads to scandal–and both Mary and Adam must search the depths of their closed hearts for answers if they hope to find any future path with happiness at its end.

Best-selling author Carolyn Miller is back with a fresh series that will not only thrill readers eager for more of her work, but bring in new fans looking for beautiful writing, fascinating research, deftly woven love stories, and real faith lived out in the Regency period.

What I loved: Adam’s spiritual walk and personal walk in learning how to live as a blind man. I found inspiration in his struggles.

Favorite Character and Why: Adam. While not always the most gentle in his responses, you could tell he was a good man who struggled. It felt real and relatable as he learned to accept a future different from the one he envisioned.

Who would like this? I would recommend this book to anyone who loves regency stories, stories of spinster women finding love, spiritual threads that are strong but not preachy, and heroes who are not your typical hero. 

PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Books-a-Million  |  Book Depository  |  Bookshop.org  |  Christianbook.com  |  Indiebound.org

 


Giveaway

For your chance to win a book from my prize stash, comment with what book YOU read for this month and you will also be entered into the year-end Grand Prize Reader Basket. Use the Rafflecopter below for extra entries and to mark that you left a comment. Entries end on June 7th at midnight EST, and the winner will be drawn sometime that week and notified by email. The winner will be announced don’t the Rafflecopter widget. *Open to all residents of the contiguous USA, legally able to enter, and an e-book format or Amazon Gift Card will be awarded to those outside that range who are legally able to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


What did you read for May’s Challenge? What do you hope to read in June’s?

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